The Hindu : International : Relief work on in Sri Lanka

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 29, 2004

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International

Relief work on in Sri Lanka

By V.S. Sambandan

PANADURA (SRI LANKA), DEC. 28. Mass burials and massive relief operations commenced on Tuesday across the coastal districts of Sri Lanka that were lashed by Sunday's tsunami. Two days after its worst-ever disaster, figures vary on the exact toll with the army and the Social Welfare Ministry reporting different statistics.

According to the Defence Ministry, 13,054 deaths were confirmed from the government-controlled areas. The Ministry's figures place the total at 17,640. One possible reason for the discrepancy, according to defence sources, is that the higher figure could include the missing. "We are reporting based on the number of bodies counted and these are rising," a source said. According to the Disaster Management Unit (DMU), set up at the President's Office, 20,520 persons are injured and 1,77,172 families have been affected.

Pulverised areas

As the victims from the vibrant coastal community are being placed in mass graves, grim statistics pile up; international, national and local relief workers have spread out to the pulverised areas, carrying hope for the affected. Some 300 relief camps have been set up in six districts. There is no information on Government relief camps in the Tamil majority districts between Batticaloa and Jaffna.

At Panadura, around 30 km south of Colombo, Irfan, a casual labourer, has turned into an instant relief worker. "It is just out of humanity. We have put together whatever we can and have brought it here," he told The Hindu , taking a break from regulating a crowd of hungry persons who thronged around a water-tanker.

A few yards away, at a St. John's Medical Relief Camp, a new-born boy, barely a few weeks old, breaks into an angelic smile, blissfully ignorant of the tragedy he had survive. The road to Panadura, which is known for gentle waves caressing the coast, is paved with wreckage. Shattered timber stands as tragic testimony to Sunday's sea-surge, which, according to a conservative official ruined 41,600 houses. Mass burials were also held in the LTTE-held areas, where 1,500 persons are feared dead.

Shortage

Aauthorities announced that unidentified bodies would be buried in mass graves to prevent an outbreak of epidemic. There is no official figure on the number of bodies buried. "There is no white cloth available to cover the bodies. Everything is washed away," local authorities told the Sri Lankan media. "There is a severe shortage of face masks for the relief workers," an official said.

"Sole breadwinners have been washed away," the former Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, told reporters here yesterday. "There is a need for counselling," he had said.

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